Help me understand

[TanyaS]

A friend's dog recently attacked her 6 year old son. The boy was letting the dog inside and let go of the storm door after the dog passed. The door closed very quickly on the dog's tail and the dog bit the boy in the face. He received over 100 stitches. Some of the wounds went completely through his cheek.

The dog nipped her 4 year old daughter a couple days prior to this incident. The dog was provoked this time, as well. There is also a history of the dog nipping her son when he was about 2 years old. Very minor, but they put the dog outside for quite some time.

The day it happened, she said she was going to put the dog down the next day. But later that night, they had decided against it. They thought they would try to find him a new home or something. So far, the dog has spent his day outside on a run and in the garage at night. Her husband forgot the dog was in the garage when he went in there carrying their son only a couple days after the incident. The boy, of course, completely freaked out. He is still having nightmares and startles very easily.

I am having a very hard time understanding why they are keeping the dog. I suppose I could understand not wanting to euthanize the dog. I don't think I could have let the dog live in good conscience. What if they give it away and the dog bites again? I really don't think there is anything I can (or should) say to her about this. We are very good friends, and this is not something I want to affect our friendship. I guess I'm just sharing to vent a little bit of my frustration with the whole thing.

If this was your dog, what would you do?

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by TanyaS

A friend's dog recently attacked her 6 year old son. The boy was letting the dog inside and let go of the storm door after the dog passed. The door closed very quickly on the dog's tail and the dog bit the boy in the face. He received over 100 stitches. Some of the wounds went completely through his cheek.

The dog nipped her 4 year old daughter a couple days prior to this incident. The dog was provoked this time, as well. There is also a history of the dog nipping her son when he was about 2 years old. Very minor, but they put the dog outside for quite some time.

The day it happened, she said she was going to put the dog down the next day. But later that night, they had decided against it. They thought they would try to find him a new home or something. So far, the dog has spent his day outside on a run and in the garage at night. Her husband forgot the dog was in the garage when he went in there carrying their son only a couple days after the incident. The boy, of course, completely freaked out. He is still having nightmares and startles very easily.

I am having a very hard time understanding why they are keeping the dog. I suppose I could understand not wanting to euthanize the dog. I don't think I could have let the dog live in good conscience. What if they give it away and the dog bites again? I really don't think there is anything I can (or should) say to her about this. We are very good friends, and this is not something I want to affect our friendship. I guess I'm just sharing to vent a little bit of my frustration with the whole thing.

If this was your dog, what would you do?

I think there is no way to answer this without knowing the dog. Is it a big dog? As in... could it potentially severely hurt an adult? If so, then the decision is more difficult.

But if it's a small dog, and most likely to only be a danger to children- then why not rehome it? Obviously the new owners would need to be made fully aware of the history, and not let the dog around kids.

Does the dog only act like this towards kids? If it had been an adult who closed the screen door on the dog would it have acted the same way? It is totally possible to keep a dog away from children- some dogs just don't react well to them at all.

The bigger issues may be if the dog is considered a "known menace" or whatever by the authorities. That would be a lot of liability for a new owner to take on. Almost certainly the dog has a file, since the bite resulted in a hospital trip.

Also, different people have different relationships with their pets. For some people it might be an easy decision to euthanize. But, for me it would be HEARTWRENCHING. My dog is PART of my family. I'm not saying that I wouldn't put my kids' needs first, but I also probably wouldn't jump to euthanize without making sure I'd really put a lot of thought in to it.

[TanyaS]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

I think there is no way to answer this without knowing the dog. Is it a big dog? As in... could it potentially severely hurt an adult? If so, then the decision is more difficult.

It is what I consider a big dog. It is a large lab, so could very well harm an adult, too. I think the dog's aggression has always been toward children, but she did mention that the dog blends in with the dark carpet and is always getting bumped by all of them. The dog is old, and they had it long before children. She has always said that the kids shouldn't play with him when at her house. This makes me think there is much more of a history than I know.

They did contact the sheriff's office the day it happened. I do not know what they told them. I do know that their decision changed afterward, though.

I have two dogs, and while it would not be an easy decision AT ALL, I cannot imagine keeping the dog and leaving the potential for another accident to happen again. What if the dog gets off his run while the kids are outside? What if the dog is left in the front fenced area while the kids are in the back and the gate between the two is opened? The trauma to my child could not possibly be worth keeping the family pet no matter the relationship. It just seems like the dog is being chosen over the well being of the child.

[greenmagick]

There are a ton of factors here. Unfortunately it seems the owners totally missed all the escalating signs. By just removing the dog to outside, they did nothing to correct the situation and probably made it worse.

I would have a behaviorist assess the dog and go from there. With some training, conditioning, and socialization the dog may be fine. I would NOT however just rehome it. I would only give it to a rescue or find a private adopter through a behaviorist etc that will continue the program as set up.

[TanyaS]

Originally Posted by greenmagick

I would have a behaviorist assess the dog and go from there. With some training, conditioning, and socialization the dog may be fine.

Thank you. This is an excellent idea. I will suggest this the next time we talk about it. I didn't think of it, so it may have not crossed her mind either.

[WaitingForKiddos]

Speaking as a victim of a dog attack (also on my face)...

The dog needs to be put to sleep.

It's too bad that it seems the dog was provoked however, it's crossed a line that I'm not comfortable with...if I were to own the dog or just be a neighbor of the dog.

[greenmagick]

Originally Posted by WaitingForKiddos

Speaking as a victim of a dog attack (also on my face)...

The dog needs to be put to sleep.

It's too bad that it seems the dog was provoked however, it's crossed a line that I'm not comfortable with...if I were to own the dog or just be a neighbor of the dog.

Im sorry you were attacked...however that does not mean any dog that bites needs to be put to sleep. It sometimes is the solution, and the current home may not be that place for this dog, but there are many other options before putting to sleep. Dr Dunbar in talking about bite inhibition talks about one of the worst bites he had seen...it was a super friendly therapy dog whose tail got shut in a door. Just like humans, animals will lash out when hurt. Some are more reactive than others, some to the point of not being safe true, but we dont know that that is the case here.